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General Information

Admissions Overview

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Program Requirements

Student Organizations

Scholarships and Awards

School of Architecture

Program Requirements

Students enrolled in the pre-professional Bachelor of Environmental Design (BEnvD) must meet UH Manoa General Education Core Requirements and maintain UH Manoa academic standards. Enrolled students wishing to enter the 90 credit professional DArch program must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA at the graduate level and successfully complete a portfolio review process before taking any graduate coursework.

Students in the 108 credit professional DArch program must attain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 at the graduate level and make reasonable academic progress. All graduate students whose cumulative GPA falls below 3.0 are placed on academic probation. Upon completion of the probationary semester if the cumulative GPA is not raised to 3.0, or if special conditions established by the dean are not met, the student may be dismissed or suspended from the program.

Undergraduate Program

Bachelor of Environmental Design (BEnvD)

The pre-professional 4-year undergraduate degree program at UH Manoa, the Bachelor of Environmental Design (BEnvD), emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of architecture and provides a liberal arts and sciences education that takes full advantage of the greater university setting. An entering undergraduate student interested in architecture may choose from one of the six undergraduate concentrations leading to the BEnvD; construction management, historic preservation, interior design, landscape design, urban design, and architecture design. Each of these concentrations requires a minimum of 45 semester hours of general (non-architecture) studies.

Graduate Program

Doctor of Architecture (D.Arch.)

The School of Architecture offers the only NAAB accredited Doctor of Architecture degree. The primary activities in the D.Arch. program include: Framing architectural inquires within social, cultural, and interdisciplinary studies with emphasis on Asia and the Pacific; investigating local/global relations evidenced in theory and practice with an emphasis on the quality of the built and natural environment; critically testing and expanding the definitions of, and relationships between the academy and the profession; using research as a basis for the grounding of design and as a primary means to expand knowledge in the discipline; and participating with local and international partners in applied design research and community.

Global Track/China Focus

In partnership with Tongji University College of Architecture and Urban Planning (Shanghai, China), the UH Manoa School of Architecture has implemented a Global Track/China Focus as a part of its Doctor of Architecture degree. Students who successfully complete this track will have the option to obtain Tongji University's College of Architecture and Urban Planning NBAA accredited Masters of Architecture degree along with the School of Architecture NAAB accredited Doctor of Architecture degree. Nowhere else in the world can a student enroll in a single track and graduate with two accredited architecture degrees from the world's two largest construction economies.

Special Requirements

All students are required to have their own personal computer for completion of required coursework. A laptop computer is strongly recommended. Software may be required to be purchased by students for the successful completion of courses and to use the school's advanced graphic and digital fabrication equipment.

Additional Information

For information about the school or degree programs, contact the Student Services Office.

For information regarding student loans and scholarships, contact the Financial Aid Services Office.

Professional Fee

All school students are assessed a professional fee each semester at the time tuition is paid. The professional fee for the 2014-2015 academic year is $500 per semester.

Other Requirements

Waiver or substitution of any required course must be approved by the appropriate undergraduate or graduate chair.

Executive Education Program: Global [EX:ED]

The Executive Education Program at the School of Architecture connects the world's industry leaders with the most distinguished award-winning architects and experts together at the midway between Asia and North America. This program is an exceptional opportunity for talented architects and leaders to gain new insights toward sustainability, cultural and political factors that significantly impact the architecture field. It also creates a high speed rail for top level collaborations among the highest level respected participants to succeed in today's highly competitive marketplace.

Alternative Campus of the Future Research Group

The Alternative Campus of the Future Research Group has been established since August 2008. Students and faculty affiliated with the Hawai'i Research Center for Futures Studies, and students and faculty affiliated with the School of Architecture of UH Manoa have been engaged in a project called "Campuses 2060." The project explores the history, present situation, and alternative futures of institutions of higher education worldwide according to the overall "future" these institutions find themselves in, and the specific mission, participants, resources, pedagogy, and physical campus that they develop in response to each future. There have been three public presentations of their ongoing work so far. While the initial focus has been on UH Manoa, it is the intention of the project, still ongoing, to become a global resource for ideas and information about the futures of higher education anywhere.

Environmental Research & Design Lab

The Environmental Research and Design Laboratory, an inter-disciplinary research laboratory located in the School of Architecture, was formed to advance sustainable design through research, education, and community outreach, with the aim of improving the dynamic interaction among the built, natural, and human environments. The laboratory not only directly supports the teaching mission of the school, but regularly provides exceptional research and design assistance to the university, the local community, the State of Hawai'i, and the greater professional community. The lab, which supports student assistantships, has undertaken evaluation of the classroom space and energy audit throughout the campus and the Design Futures Lab has participated in long range planning for the university.

Heritage Center

The Heritage Center of the School of Architecture promotes the preservation of cultural and architectural heritage in Hawai'i and the Asia-Pacific Region by providing expertise, research, documentation, and training opportunities; by disseminating heritage information to the general public; and by increasing interaction and cooperation on heritage issues within the Asia-Pacific area between government agencies, non-profits, and the general public. The Heritage Center wrote the Getty-funded Campus Heritage Plan for the Chancellor's Office and designed the HUD-funded Ka Papa Loi o Kanewai Community Center for the School of Hawaiian Knowledge.

Student Organizations

The school houses a chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS). The organization engages in a number of social and community service activities and has won numerous national awards.
The Gamma Mu Chapter of the Tau Sigma Delta Honor Society is open to DArch students who maintain a 3.0 or higher GPA and are at the top twenty percent of their class at the end of year two.

Scholarships and Awards

ARCC King Student Medal for Excellence in Architectural + Environmental Design Research
Alpha Rho Chi Medal, National Professional Architectural Fraternity Award
Henry Adams Medal, American Institute of Architects Award
Henry Adams Certificate, American Institute of Architects Award
Bergum Scholarship
Gilman Hu Honolulu Chapter CSI Endowed Scholarship
Allen R. Johnson-Roy C. Kelley Architectural Research Travel Scholarship
Construction Specifications Institute Scholarship Fund
HonBlue Architectural Grant
American Institute of Architects Honolulu Chapter Scholarship
School of Architecture Alumni Association Scholarship
R. Richard Morris Memorial Scholarship
School of Architecture Practicum Fund
Barry John Baker Scholarship
Donald G. Deer Memorial Scholarship
Leighton Liu Scholarship

ARCH Courses